Lagos

The walled medieval city of Lagos, located on Portugal’s western Algarve coast, is built upon centuries of seafaring history. Home to some of the most beautiful and dramatic coastal scenery in all of southern Europe, it’s a rewarding charter destination.

The old town’s narrow, pastel-fronted streets are neatly enclosed within well-preserved 16th-century city walls and lead to a handsome harbor and a series of squares where traditional fado drifts from open doorways and tiled facades, summing up the region’s distinctive architectural heritage. The Museu Municipal de Lagos houses an eclectic collection spanning the town’s Moorish, Manueline, and Age of Discovery periods, while the Igreja de Santo António, with its elaborate gilded interior, is one of the finest baroque churches in the Algarve. Outside of the city, the surrounding area offers plenty to entice charterers. Ponta da Piedade, a headland of sculpted limestone rising from the Atlantic, is a short distance south of the town. Offering mesmerizing views when visited from the water, its sea caves, natural arches, and towering rock pillars form a landscape of exceptional rawness. The boardwalk connecting Praia Dona Ana to Ponta da Piedade is great for exploring on foot, with a succession of cliff-top viewpoints revealing hidden coves accessible only by tender. Meia Praia, stretching four kilometers east of the marina, provides a more open, family-oriented anchorage with calm, sheltered swimming. As Lagos is positioned close to the historic headland of Sagres and Cape St. Vincent, the southwesternmost point of mainland Europe, it is a great starting point for longer charter itineraries eastward along the full length of the Algarve.